Of Pictures and Parties
by Ciara in cotton socks
Summary: JJ's farewell party leads to a tearful heart-to-heart between two friends when Reid finds it hard to imagine the BAU without her.  Written for the-vampire-act and hudson911's CM Ladies Writing Contest.  Please read, review and  if you like it  vote!


**A/N: OK, so this is my entry for the CM Ladies Writing Contest, which is being co-hosted by the-vampire-act and hudson911. Check out their profiles for more details…**

**Basically, it's JJ's last day. And here is a short conversation that ensues…**

**DISCLAIMER: If I owned Criminal Minds, why on earth would I be writing **_**fan**_**fiction?**

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Jennifer 'JJ' Jareau stood in her office, arms crossed over her chest. The room was almost completely empty now; all that remained as proof of her BAU career were a couple of brown cardboard boxes spilling over with case files which were stacked by the window and the small, neat, rectangular silhouette of her badge on the otherwise empty desk. JJ wandered over and picked the badge up. The dark leather felt comfortingly familiar beneath her fingers as she stroked the FBI crest and smirked at the horrendous haircut she sported in her photo.

Out in the bullpen, the party was beginning to wind down. Garcia's idea, of course. JJ had been ready to throttle the quirky tech analyst when the team arrived back from their latest case to find the bullpen bedecked in streamers and balloons, chock full of their fellow FBI agents. There was even a 'Farewell JJ' banner, for God's sake! The last thing JJ wanted was to be made a fuss of; she would have preferred to say a quiet goodbye to the team and then slip away without anyone else being any the wiser. However, it appeared that 'subtlety' was a word that wasn't in Garcia's vocabulary. When the team came through the doors, there was a flurry of activity and JJ was engulfed by a chorus of 'we'll miss you's and 'goodbye's. She had called out to the rest of the team for help, but they just stood there smiling sheepishly, obviously in on the plan.

Now, however, the excitement was beginning to peter out. From her vantage point in her office, JJ could see Anderson deep in conversation with a couple of agents from the New Agents' Training unit. Nearby, Morgan was braying at a joke told by Jordan Todd, who had come down from counterterrorism for the event. Even Strauss had made an appearance; the austere section chief was picking at a plate of carrot cake and interrogating a visibly squeamish Kevin Lynch. JJ smiled softly and turned away from the window. She ran a trembling hand through her hair and blinked back tears.

_Knock knock_.

JJ dabbed hastily at her red-rimmed eyes as the door opened and Spencer Reid sloped inside. His hands were clenched tight around a plain brown envelope and his gaze was rooted firmly on his wine-coloured Converse.

"Party too much for you, too?" JJ asked quietly. The young agent looked up, startled, as though he hadn't been expecting to see JJ there. He nodded slightly. JJ hopped up lightly onto the desk and patted the chair behind it. Reid fell into it and smiled sadly at her.

"It's a great party," he said hoarsely. "Garcia outdid herself. It's… it's really great, JJ."

"It doesn't sound like you were having a great time," JJ pressed gently. "Are you OK Spence?"

The lanky agent made a small noise that sounded like a strangled laugh. "You're the only one who ever called me that," he smiled thoughtfully. "Spence."

"Well, we're friends. I figured you needed a better nickname than 'kid'."

Reid laughed at that, but the sound was hollow and mirthless. He didn't look at JJ; instead he focused his attention on the thin package in his hands, flipping it over again and again. JJ resumed the caressing of her badge and an amicable silence fell for a couple of long moments.

_Sniff_.

Startled, JJ looked up. The small noise seemed to have come from Reid, and indeed when she glanced at the younger agent she felt her heart swoop sickeningly.

He was crying. Not noisy crying, the way Garcia sometimes did when a case overwhelmed her, but sad, silent crying with silvery tears slipping in jagged, meandering rivers down his thin face. All JJ could think of as his shoulders shook and his bottom lip quivered was Henry standing at the foot of her bed, looking up at her and Will after having a bad dream.

"Hey, hey!" she exclaimed softly in her best perky voice. "What's all this? It's not a funeral, you know."

"I know," Reid replied, sounding like he had a bad headcold. He rubbed viciously at his eyes, which were swollen and puffy with tears. "I'm sorry."

He looked so miserable, like a puppy that had just been kicked in the stomach. Repeatedly. Without thinking, JJ scooted close to him and took his hand in hers. Her legs dangled from the desk, not quite reaching the floor.

"You see," she muttered, almost to herself. "This is why I didn't want a party."

"Sorry," Reid said again. He hiccoughed slightly and took a deep breath. "I didn't mean to start crying like a baby. I just came in here to leave your present on your desk, but then you were here and… well, I think the consequences are fairly obvious. I just… you're my friend JJ. I don't want you to go."

JJ squeezed the long-fingered hand gently. "Believe me, I don't want to go either," she told him. "But I have to."

Gingerly, she reached down and tugged up the bottom of her blue blouse to reveal a heavy covering of white gauze wrapped around her torso. She pressed Reid's hand to the bandage and he winced.

"Billy Flynn shot me when we cornered him, Spence," JJ explained. "He shot me. And I know it wasn't serious, I was never going to die, but in another time, or another place, with a different UnSub… it could have turned out so much differently."

"I know," said Reid, nodding fervently. "We were all so worried about you JJ. I hated the idea of you being hurt, I've been shot myself and it was… it was awful. And I only took one to the leg. He got you in the stomach, and there was so much blood… Gunshot wounds to the stomach have an extremely high fatality rate. In addition to the initial wound, you could die from hydrostatic shock. That's the rupture of organs due to the energy of the shot and-"

"Spence," JJ interrupted, her tone gentle and full of understanding. "You're rambling again."

"Oh. Sorry."

"That's OK," she replied firmly. "You're right, of course. It could have been fatal. I was so, so lucky. And that's what scared me. I could have _died_, Spence. I could have died, and where would that have left Will and Henry? I've been such a hypocrite, telling Will _his_ job was too dangerous. It took that evil son of a bitch shooting me at point-blank range to realise how reckless I've been. They're my family, Spence, and I can't risk doing that to them again. That's why I'm leaving the BAU."

"I know. I just wish you didn't have to move so far away."

"New Orleans is Will's home," she reminded him. "He came here for me, it's only fair that I return the favour. And it's a great job. Family liaison officer with the New Orleans police department. It's right up my street. You know how I like to get involved, even when Hotch tells me not to."

Reid sighed, a sigh that fluttered through his lips and made JJ think of an old man. "I understand," he mumbled, gaze rooted on the floor. "I do, but I just can't imagine the BAU without you. I don't know how we'll cope, it was weird enough when you went on maternity leave. Just thinking that you won't be here every day to tease Morgan and stop Garcia having meltdowns… I don't like it JJ. I don't like it at all."

"Neither do I," she whispered. "But I have to do this. And hey, you can always come visit me in New Orleans. It's kind of your duty, as Henry's godfather. We'll still be friends."

"I know," said Reid sullenly. "But everyone says that, and it never happens. We promised to stay in contact with Elle, but nobody heard from her after she left. And then Gideon… I don't know JJ. I don't think I can stand to lose you too. I don't think I'll cope."

"Hey now!" JJ exclaimed. She took Reid by the chin and forced his head up to allow herself to look into his beautiful brown eyes. "Spence, you're a strong person, one of the strongest I know. You'll be fine."

"I don't think I-"

"Spence, look at how far you've come since you joined the BAU. Remember, you were just a dorky little kid with bad sweaters who had absolutely zero social skills. But now look at you. You've got a wonderful girlfriend in Austin, you look like a member of a boyband, you've got great dress sense. Spence, you've grown up before my eyes. I've watched you grow into a man. You were tortured, you battled drug addiction, you got shot in the freaking leg! And you still came out the other side fighting. You're strong, Spencer. Compared to all those things, me leaving will be a piece of cake."

"You promise?"

There it was again, that Henry-like innocence that made JJ feel like she'd been punched in the stomach. Poor Reid. He was usually so inept at displays of emotion. JJ guessed this had been building up inside him since she told the rest of the team that she was leaving. Now the dam had burst and he was sitting here in front of her like a child whose best friend was moving away. Sad and scared.

Throwing caution to the wind, JJ enveloped Reid's tall form in a warm embrace. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and hugged him close. He made the smallest of noises of surprise on impact, but he didn't pull away. That alone was proof of how much he had grown since he joined the BAU. The old Reid couldn't have physical contact with any woman without having a panic attack and babbling pointless statistics that nobody wanted to know. But now here he was, holding her so tight and with such warmth, that JJ was close to tears herself.

"I promise," she whispered into his long, mussed-up hair. "You'll be just fine without me, Spence."

"OK."

They broke apart easily and Reid went back to looking at the floor. He seemed completely absorbed in a patch of tape stuck to the brown carpet, but JJ could see the slight flash of white tooth as he nibbled furiously on his bottom lip. She knew he was trying not to cry again.

"I- uh, I got you something," he said in a rushed whisper, holding up the slim brown parcel. "It's not much, the others probably got you much cooler stuff. I know Garcia made you cookies and got you a bottle of that perfume you like, and Hotch-"

JJ held up a hand to cut him off. "You're rambling again," she said gently. Reid flushed a spectacular shade of scarlet.

"Oh- right," he mumbled and shoved the envelope clumsily at her. JJ rolled her eyes and ruffled his hair affectionately before sliding a finger under the flap and opening the package.

Inside, she found a framed photograph of the team. It had been taken at the Christmas party Garcia had organised last year at her house. They were all huddled into the shot, with a brightly-lit Christmas tree in the background. Morgan was shoving a paper hat onto Reid's overlong head of dark hair while Garcia dangled mistletoe hopefully above the dark-skinned agent's head. Hotch and Rossi were wearing identical knowing smirks and clutching glasses of homemade eggnog. Prentiss wore a hairband fashioned from tinsel and was pulling a colourful cracker with a beaming JJ, who was the only one looking directly at the camera lens.

Tears sprung up in JJ's eyes again, and this time she didn't blink them away.

"Oh Spence…"

Reid shrugged sheepishly. "I wanted you to have something to remember us all by, so you wouldn't forget us down in New Orleans."

"Spencer Reid, nobody could ever forget you," JJ chuckled. She grasped his hand again. "This is wonderful, thank you."

"There's more."

JJ tipped the envelope upside down and two smaller envelopes, both white, fell into her lap. She opened the first one and gave a little scream of delight.

"Tickets to a Redskins game?"

Reid nodded shyly. "They're for next season, for you and me. That way even if you've forgotten all about us BAU members I'll have an excuse to see you again. Garcia says she'll make me a list of all the gossip you've missed, because apparently I wouldn't pick up on it if it danced in front of me wearing one of Emily's grunge outfits from the '80's."

"Good old Garcia," JJ muttered. She took a swipe at a straying tear and opened the last envelope. For a moment she sat there confused, her brow puckered. Then she looked up at Reid with bewilderment. "What is this?"

"Oh," Reid said with a shaky laugh. "That. I know I told you I would never show you how to make one of those rockets Hotch used to give out to me about but…"

"Really?" JJ scanned the hand-written instructions excitedly. "But this is physic's magic. I thought a magician never reveals his secrets?"

Reid shrugged. "I figured you might want something to help break the ice with those New Orleans police officers. Just try not to concuss anyone like I did."

JJ smiled tearfully at him. This was typical of Reid. She had been doing just fine until he showed up. She hadn't cried when she said goodbye to Hotch or Rossi or even Garcia. She hadn't been reduced to tears by Prentiss's farewell speech, or even by Morgan telling her that she was one of the most amazing women he'd ever met. High praise indeed coming from Derek Morgan, who knew almost every female in Quantico by now. No, they hadn't made her cry. But this socially inept, clumsy, awkward boy genius could do it with just two pieces of paper and a glossy photograph. That was real magic.

_Beep beep_.

JJ was jolted back to reality by the honking of a car horn outside. She peered out the window and saw Will waving from the front seat of his beat-up old Dodge Colt. She turned to Reid with a tiny smile.

"That's my ride."

Reid stood up from his position in the swivel chair and helped her down from her perch astride the desk that was soon to become some other Supervisory Special Agent's. He pressed her badge into her palm and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Well," he said hesitantly. "I guess this is goodbye."

"For once Reid, you're wrong," said JJ softly. "Not goodbye. Just see you later."

And without warning, Reid swept her up in his surprisingly strong arms for one last, spontaneous hug. He buried his face in her sheet of golden hair and breathed in her scent.

"I'll miss you Jennifer Jarreau."

"And I'll miss you, Spencer Reid."

"Bye JJ."

"Bye Spence."

And she grabbed her handbag and strode from the small office before she could succumb once more to tears. She managed to make it out into the parking lot without breaking down or looking back. Only once she was settled in the passenger seat next to Will did she dare to glance back at the building which had been like a second home to her since joining the BAU.

The rest of the team had joined Reid in her office. Garcia had one arm around him and one around Morgan, and JJ could see that the funky computer geek was crying just like Reid. Hotch and Rossi were stone-faced as always, but she thought she detected a sparkle in their eyes as they nodded to her. Emily had her hand pressed to the window pane in a mimed wave. Another lump rose in JJ's throat.

"Are you sure you're ready to do this?" Will asked her in his delicious New Orleans drawl. He stroked her tear-stained face comfortingly.

JJ smiled tearfully at him and twisted to look at Henry, slumbering in his booster seat behind her. She glanced once last time at her team, huddled together at the window, and extended her arm in one last wave.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

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**So that's it. I don't know if I did JJ justice, but if you think I did an anyway decent job, please review. Oh, and vote! Please?**


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